Stile: Obama lays tracks for new era of government

It was a fitting metaphor. In his 19-minute speech, Obama called for the nation to chug forward on a “never-ending” journey into the 21st century, and along the tracks of a liberal agenda. It’s an agenda that calls for closing the gap between rich and poor, confronting climate change, and extending full rights to gays and a promising future to immigrants.

“We have always understood that when times change, so must we. That fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges, that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action,” Obama said in a speech packed with allusions to Lincoln, Martin Luther King and the Kennedys.

Obama unapologetically, boldly declared that government should remain the engine that will power the nation along this journey. The speech was not an ode to big government — the nation has not “succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone” he said early on in the speech.

But, Obama said, the nation cannot fulfill its destiny of true equality, prosperity and promise without a robust government that builds bridges and railroads, serves as a watchdog over the free market, and provides a safety net for the poor and the elderly. “The commitments we make to each other — through Medicare, and Medicaid and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us,” he said.

He referred to the nation’s duty to protect children from violence. “Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”

The speech was a marked departure from Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inaugural address, when Reagan argued that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem” and Bill Clinton’s second inaugural, where he declared that “the era of big government is over.”

And Obama’s speech was a rebuke to the Republican Party’s mantra that an unfettered free market can solve society’s ills, a mantra that took root in a Reagan speech and flowered into a bitter, rancorous resistance in Obama’s first term.

That rancor was also fed by Tea Party “patriots” who demand a strict letter-of-the-law adherence to the Constitution and demand a limited role for government. But Obama offered a counternarrative. The Declaration of Independence’s call for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” can only be achieved, he said, by adapting those sentiments with “the realities of our time.”

The debate over climate change, an issue that Obama was faulted for ignoring in his first term, is one example.

“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” said Obama, who was led on a now-legendary tour of the Jersey Shore devastated by superstorm Sandy. “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.”

Dan DeRosa, a 25-year-old field organizer for Environment New Jersey, an advocacy group, was caught off-guard by Obama’s emphasis on the issue. Ten minutes before the speech, DeRosa released a routine statement expressing hope that Obama would address the issue. Less than a half-hour later, Obama was declaring the issue a priority.

“I was surprised to hear him talk so much about it,” DeRosa said. Yet, the mounting evidence, he said, can no longer be ignored — the drought in the Midwest, the rising sea level, Sandy coming on the heels of two other “100-year” storms that slammed New Jersey.

“Now he has a tremendous opportunity to address this problem,” he said.

Obama’s defiant, liberal vision was a balm to his supporters, frustrated that he didn’t assert it enough during the first term.

But not on Monday.

Some found Obama’s comments electrifying. Jeffrey Gardner, a Hawthorne lawyer who is executive committee member at Garden State Equality, was stunned to hear Obama describe the gay rights movement as a legitimate heir to the civil rights movement. “It was enormously powerful,” he said.

Obama’s ability to convert vision into actual accomplishments in the second term — and the legacy of his presidency — is questionable. Republicans still control the House, and although they agreed last week to raise the debt limit for three months — a victory for Obama — they are still expected to defy most of his agenda. More gridlock looms.

But at least for the one day, Obama raised eyebrows and hopes of his anxious faithful.

“He made a very clear case,” said Mark Alexander of Montclair, who served as Obama’s state director during the 2008 campaign and is running for the state Senate this year. “He is saying we have to go forward.”

Email: stile@northjersey.com

President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama walk down Pennsylvania Avenue en route to the White House, Monday, Jan. 21, 2013, in Washington.

Stile: Obama lays tracks for new era of government

It was a fitting metaphor. In his 19-minute speech, Obama called for the nation to chug forward on a “never-ending” journey into the 21st century, and along the tracks of a liberal agenda. It’s an agenda that calls for closing the gap between rich and poor, confronting climate change, and extending full rights to gays and a promising future to immigrants.

“We have always understood that when times change, so must we. That fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges, that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action,” Obama said in a speech packed with allusions to Lincoln, Martin Luther King and the Kennedys.

Obama unapologetically, boldly declared that government should remain the engine that will power the nation along this journey. The speech was not an ode to big government — the nation has not “succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone” he said early on in the speech.

But, Obama said, the nation cannot fulfill its destiny of true equality, prosperity and promise without a robust government that builds bridges and railroads, serves as a watchdog over the free market, and provides a safety net for the poor and the elderly. “The commitments we make to each other — through Medicare, and Medicaid and Social Security — these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us,” he said.

He referred to the nation’s duty to protect children from violence. “Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”

The speech was a marked departure from Ronald Reagan’s 1981 inaugural address, when Reagan argued that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem” and Bill Clinton’s second inaugural, where he declared that “the era of big government is over.”

And Obama’s speech was a rebuke to the Republican Party’s mantra that an unfettered free market can solve society’s ills, a mantra that took root in a Reagan speech and flowered into a bitter, rancorous resistance in Obama’s first term.

That rancor was also fed by Tea Party “patriots” who demand a strict letter-of-the-law adherence to the Constitution and demand a limited role for government. But Obama offered a counternarrative. The Declaration of Independence’s call for “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” can only be achieved, he said, by adapting those sentiments with “the realities of our time.”

The debate over climate change, an issue that Obama was faulted for ignoring in his first term, is one example.

“Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms,” said Obama, who was led on a now-legendary tour of the Jersey Shore devastated by superstorm Sandy. “The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.”

Dan DeRosa, a 25-year-old field organizer for Environment New Jersey, an advocacy group, was caught off-guard by Obama’s emphasis on the issue. Ten minutes before the speech, DeRosa released a routine statement expressing hope that Obama would address the issue. Less than a half-hour later, Obama was declaring the issue a priority.

“I was surprised to hear him talk so much about it,” DeRosa said. Yet, the mounting evidence, he said, can no longer be ignored — the drought in the Midwest, the rising sea level, Sandy coming on the heels of two other “100-year” storms that slammed New Jersey.

“Now he has a tremendous opportunity to address this problem,” he said.

Obama’s defiant, liberal vision was a balm to his supporters, frustrated that he didn’t assert it enough during the first term.

But not on Monday.

Some found Obama’s comments electrifying. Jeffrey Gardner, a Hawthorne lawyer who is executive committee member at Garden State Equality, was stunned to hear Obama describe the gay rights movement as a legitimate heir to the civil rights movement. “It was enormously powerful,” he said.

Obama’s ability to convert vision into actual accomplishments in the second term — and the legacy of his presidency — is questionable. Republicans still control the House, and although they agreed last week to raise the debt limit for three months — a victory for Obama — they are still expected to defy most of his agenda. More gridlock looms.

But at least for the one day, Obama raised eyebrows and hopes of his anxious faithful.

“He made a very clear case,” said Mark Alexander of Montclair, who served as Obama’s state director during the 2008 campaign and is running for the state Senate this year. “He is saying we have to go forward.”